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Sun breaking through a storm cloud over the lake and a rock breakwall

Great Lakes adventure company

Built for the inland seas.

Gear and stories for paddleboarding first, and for fishing, boating, island hopping, and storms.

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Paddleboarding

Stand up on the lake.

Paddleboarding is the heart of Marlsby. Clear shallows over stone, a wooded shore to follow, an island on the horizon, and nothing between you and the water but a board.

Boards, paddles, and gear for the water. Each order ships straight from the supplier.

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A paddleboarder heading out across calm water toward a low wooded island
Water so clear the stones show, with a paddleboarder out in the distance
A wooded shoreline seen from a paddleboard at water level

Out on the water, past the breakwall.

Every way onto the lake.

  • A paddleboarder standing on a board over clear water, an island ahead

    Paddleboarding

  • A fish in a landing net at night, the lure still in its mouth

    Fishing

  • Twin outboard motors throwing a white wake across turquoise water

    Boating

  • A ferry rail with a low island on the horizon

    Island Hopping

  • The bow of a sailboat under sail on blue-green water

    Sailing

  • Grey storm waves breaking on the shore, an island behind

    Storms

Lake sturgeon

Older than the ice.

The sturgeon on our logo is a real fish, and its family goes back 150 million years. That's long before any glacier cut the rock under this lake.

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  1. Shark-like tail

    A shark's tail on a fish with no teeth.

  2. Armor, not scales

    Babies wear spiky bony plates. They smooth out with age.

  3. Four whiskers

    Feelers find food on the bottom. Then it sucks it up.

  • 150M

    years the sturgeon line goes back

  • 1 inch

    long, two weeks after a baby hatches

  • 7 in.

    how big hatcheries grow them before release

  • 150 yrs

    for the oldest fish. Some may top 200.

  • 300 lb

    for the biggest, at about 7 feet long

  • 15M

    lake sturgeon once lived across the Great Lakes

Sources: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Wisconsin DNR, Great Lakes Now.

Read the field guide

Gear

Gear for the water.

Paddleboards, paddles, safety gear, and camp basics. Each order ships straight from the supplier.

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The name

Marl is the lakebed mineral that turns the water turquoise every summer. We named the company after it.

Shallow water so clear the stones on the bottom show
Clear to the bottom
A tree standing alive in open water

Where it starts

Carved by ice, 18,000 years.

The bedrock under this lake still carries the grooves the glaciers cut. Every story we tell starts on that rock.

From the water

All stories

Lake sturgeon · Field guide

Born an inch long

Eggs hatch in five to eight days. Two weeks later the fry are about an inch long, and as spiky as they'll ever be. Here's how the fish on our logo grows into a seven-foot giant.

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Field notes

Shot on the lake.

Pink northern lights over calm water
Northern lights, pink
Fireworks over a lit-up harbor full of boats
Fireworks over the harbor
A long red lake freighter tied up at a dock
A laker in port
A yellow dog carrying a stick through clear shallow water
Clear water, one good stick
A stone with what looks like a face, held in a hand
Another face in the rocks

Hear it first.

New gear and new stories, straight from the lake.